Machine for digging up potatoes.



. R. L.' FUGLSANG'.

MACHINE FOR DIGGING UP POTATOES.

'APPucATmN FILED ma. 4. 1915.

l. 3 0 Patented Nom 2?, 191?.-

UNITN STATE@ FATEN FIQE.

KRIs'rEiv noTBLL LAn'snN FUGLSANG, or ToUsIG, NEAR sTnRrLn, DENMARK.

MACHINE FOR DIGGING UP POTATOES.

Application led March 4, 1915.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Knrs'rnn RoTBLL LARsnN FUGLsANG, a subject of the King of Denmark, and a resident of Tousig, near Sterild, in the Kingdom of Denmark, have invented a new and useful Machine for Digging Up Potatoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a machine for digging up potatoes, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side view and Fig. 2 a top view of the machine.

The frame of the machine consists of two longitudinal beams 1 and 2, which carry driving wheels 3, each beam having a. lip 4, Fig. 1. These two lips are connected by means of a rod 5. The beams are supplied with bearings for a rotating axle 6 which carries a disk 8 bearing a stationary pin 7, said aXle and disk rotating as the machine is driven forward, and the aXle G being con` nected with the driving wheels for instance by means of pulleys 9 and 10 and a crossed belt 11, or by means of cog-gear, or the like. The pin 7 moves in a slot 12, Fig. 1, in a shaft 13, to which a shovel-blade or diggingfork 14 is hinged. The shaft 13 ends in a projection 15 which grips under the shovelblade or digging-fork 14 preventing it from turning downward but permitting it to turn upward. At its rear end the shaft 13 has another slot 16 to receive the stat-ionary rod or bolt 5.

The shovel-blade or digging-fork 14 has a square frame whose rear wall 17 is made in one piece with the blade 14, while the other walls together form one piece 18 which is hinged to the blade 14 by means of a bolt 19. The beams 1 and 2 carry a slanting grating 21 on a somewhat springy standard 20, and a slant-ing trough 23 on standards 22, said trough having a discharge mouth 24.

Vhen the shaft 13 is in the position indicated by uninterrupted lines, the sharp front edge of th-e shovel-blade 14 just engages the surface of the earth, but as the disk 8, turned by the belt 11, revolves farther in its course, the pin 7 forces the shaft 13 downward, causing the shovel-blade 14 to pass into the earth, the frame 18, which with its broad surface offers resistance, lifting itself from the shovel-blade and remaining on the surface of the ground, as it turns around the bolt 19. The digging-member then takes the position a, indicated by dotted Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov.` 2W, 191W.

serial No. 12,093.

lines in F ig. 1, at which position the digging-member is forced as deep into the ground as it can go.

As the disk 8 then turns farther in its course, the digging-member 14, with the potato-filled earth resting on it, is lifted up, and the frame 18 again takes the position indicated by uninterruptedlines in Fig. 1, as soon as the digging-member 14 rises above the surface of the earth. I

In the position o the digging-member projects as far as possible in a horizontal direction and in the position c it is as high as it can possibly get. In the last position, part of the earth dug up slides over against the rear wall 17, so that the shovel-blade tilts over into the position d, and throws the entire contents of earth and potatoes on over to the grating 21, where the earth falls through, while the potatoes roll on over into the trough 23 and leave the machine.

Now, on the continued revolution of the disk 8, the digging-member is again lowered into the position indicated by the uninterrupted lines, and the shovel-blade resumes its original position in relation to the shaft. The action is then repeated in the same way as set forth above.

The machine may also be furnished with still another disk 3 turning with the axle G close to the beam 2. This disk is then sup plied with a driving-pin disposed diametrically opposite to the pin 7, and intended for another digging-member.

The machine may also have two or more digging-members the one behind the other, in order to make sure that all the potatoes are dug up.

Furthermore, the machine may be so constructed that several parallel rows of potatoes can be dug up simultaneously.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a machine for digging up potatoes, the combination of a disk having a drivingpin, a shaft carrying a digging-member and having a slot for said driving-pin, a grating, and a trough into which said grating is adapted to deliver, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for digging up potatoes, the combination of a disk connected with the driving wheels and having a drivingpin, a shaft carrying a digging-member and having a slot for said driving-pin, a grating, and a trough into which said grating is adapted to deliver, substantially as described.

3; In a machine for digging up potatoes, the combination of a disk connected with the driving Wheels and having a drivingpin, a shaft carrying a digging-member and having a slot for said driving-pin and an` other slot for a guiding boit, a grating, and a trough into which said grating is adapted to deliver, substantially as described.

4. In a machine for digging up potatoes, the combination of a disk connected with the driving Wheels and having a drivingpin, a shaft having slots for said drivingpin and for a guiding-bolt and carrying a 15 digging-member gripping under it with a projection, said digging-member having a Wall in one piece With the digging-blade and a fram-e hinged thereto, a grating, and a trough into which said grating is adapted to 20 deliver, substantially as described.

1n testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of tivo Witnesses.

KRISTEN ROTBLL LARSEN FUGLSANG.

Witnesses:

BERNE. LARSEN, GEORG V. NIELsEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents; Washington, D. C. 

